HAYWARD, Calif. - Cal State East Bay men's basketball won its sixth consecutive game on Saturday, defeating Simpson (Calif.), 91-49 at Pioneer Gymnasium. 
 

GAME SUMMARY

In the first half, the Red Hawks started the game on a 5-0 spurt, but the Pioneers answered with a 10-2 run, capped by a Dimitrios Klonaras jumper with 16:02 left in the half, to give the Pioneers the lead for good at 10-7. The Pioneers expanded their lead to double digits, at 26-15, on a Julian Lopez 3-pointer with 9:55 left in the half. CSUEB led by as much as 22 points, ahead 46-24 after a fastbreak jumper by Teiano Hardee with 58 seconds left in the half. The Pioneers led 46-26 at halftime.
 
In the second half, the Pioneers would continue to expand their lead to as much as 47 points on two occasions with the latest at the 3:37 mark at 91-44 on a dunk by Christian Littlejohn-Chin. CSUEB finished with a 91-49 win on Saturday. 
 

NOTABLE STATS

• Klonaras and Daeshawn Eaton scored 20 points each on Saturday. Eaton went 8-for-11 from the floor and made a pair of free throws, while Klonaras went 8-for-15 from the floor with four free throws. 
• Also scoring in double-figures for the Pioneers were Lopez with a career-high 13 points and Kevin Ebiriekwe with 11. 
• Klonaras had a team-high eight rebounds. 
• Defensively, Ebiriekwe had four blocks and Klonaras had six steals. The six steals for Klonaras was the most for a Pioneer since January 8, 2016 when Jalen Richard also had six steals. 
• Leading the Red Hawks in scoring with 11 points was Parker Martens. 
• The Pioneers shot 50 percent from the floor while the Red Hawks shot 30.9 percent.
• Cal State East Bay outrebounded the RedHawks 38-36 on Saturday. 
• The six game win streak is the longest for CSUEB since early in the 2016-17 season. 
   

POSTGAME QUOTE

Cal State East Bay head coach Bryan Rooney following Saturday's game: 
"The game right after finals can be tricky, so very proud of our guys for putting together a solid effort tonight. The break comes at an important time qw we need to get healthy and ready for the challenges of conference play."
 

RECORDS

Cal State East Bay: 8-2
Simpson (Calif.): 5-7
 

UP NEXT FOR CAL STATE EAST BAY

On Sunday, December 31, the Pioneers return from a break and look to close out 2023 strong when they take on San Francisco State for a CCAA matchup on New Years' Eve. Tipoff from the Main Gym at Don Nasser Plaza on the SF State campus is set for 3 p.m.